Rye grain

[Darron]

Well, my green patch plus did not prove to be as successful as what I thought. The wheat and oats came and the deer are eating them thorugh the leaves that fell on the food plot. The wheat and oats grew to about 5-6" then stopped. The brassicas were non-existent. I knew the gasline right-a-way would be a tough area to grow. I learned my lesson. Now after saying that, this area would still make a great killing plot if I can just get something to grow. I cut back some maples, but what's really shading the plot out is the large oaks about 10 yards from the food plot. I obviously do not want to cut them. I have heard a lot of things about rye grain (not rye grass) and how it is very hardy and will grow in places most plants won't. I also heard the deer love it. I thought about next year planting GPP in my creek bottom plot that is very fertile with plenty of sun and plant rye grain on my wooded gasline plot. What do you think?

[dogdoc]

i'm sorry your GPP didn't work out for you. I have had excellent results with that blend. Six inches worth of growth with wheat is pretty good--once soil temps get to a certain temp and daylight hours are shortened it goes into a winter dormancy----it will start growing again next spring and produce lots of seeds for your turkeys. I don't know about your brassicas---when i planted GPP several years ago the brassicas grew knee high.

Rye is always a good choice. It is the hardiest of all cereal grains so if you wheat and oats came up to 6 inches you should be fine with rye. I wouldn't say it is more palatable than wheat but very close.

good luck

todd

[Darron]

The brassicas never did grow. Like I mentioned before, the oats and wheat looked like they got anywhere from 4-6". I thought about next year either planting nothing but wintergrazer 70 rye or a mix of oats, wheat and rye. Cooper seeds has a mix of oats, wheat and rye that looks pretty good.

I plan on trying GPP in my lower food plot that receives more sun. I might plant some millet around the edges for cover and plant GPP in the middle. The turkeys finally found the millet around early Nov and they were nailing it. I set up over it and shot a nice hen one morning.

[wtnhunt]

Have had great results here with the wintergrazer rye, unfortunately the dealer I used to buy it from went out of business and no one else wants to order it in around here without charging insane freight rates. Don't think you could go wrong with the pennington wintergrazer rye.